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All the World’s a Stage: A Pop-Up Biography of William Shakespeare
by Michael Bender
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And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on their Craft
by Mike Sacks
Every great joke has a punch line, and every great humor writer has an arsenal of experiences, anecdotes, and obsessions that were the inspiration for that humor. In fact, those who make a career out of entertaining strangers with words are a notoriously intelligent and quirky lot. And boy, do they have some stories. In this entertaining and inspirational book, you’ll hear from 21 top humor writers as they discuss the comedy-writing process, their influences, their likes and dislikes, and their experiences in the industry. You’ll also learn some less useful but equally amusing things, such as: How screenwriter Buck Henry came up with the famous ‘plastics’ line for ‘The Graduate’; how many times the cops were called on co-writers Sacha Baron Cohen and Dan Mazer during the shooting of ‘Borat’; what creator Paul Feig thinks would have happened to the ‘Freaks and Geeks’ crew if the show had had another season; how Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais created the original version of ‘The Office’; And what it’s really like in the writers’ room at SNL.”
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Be a Broadway Star Board Game
A roll-and-move game with the occasional requirement to (what else?) perform.
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The Best of Broadway Musicals – Classic Performances from The Ed Sullivan Show (DVD)
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Best Revenge: How Theater Saved My Life and Has Been Killing Me Ever Since — With Appearances by Joseph Chaikin, Sholem Asch, and Sam Shepard
by Stephen Fife
A middle-aged playwright–in conflict with his ex-wife, his current girlfriend, and a legion of creditors–journeys from Hollywood to Atlanta to work with his youthful idol, legendary avant-garde director Joseph Chaikin. Thus begins a roller coaster ride of a very unusual sort, combining personal revelations with theatrical obsessions, a step-by-step disclosure of a master director’s rehearsal process with a search for spiritual truth (and a decent night’s sleep). Just hop aboard and get a backstage pass to the “holding-on-by-your-fingernails” reality of the contemporary American theater.
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The Big Picture: Who Killed Hollywood? and Other Essays
by William Goldman
Amazon.com: “The trouble with the Oscar show is that it’s too short,” William Goldman writes more than once in these infectiously droll essays about Hollywood stars, box office roulette, vintage movie years, and the illogic of Saving Private Ryan. Any other writer would be in deep ironical mode saying that, but the great screenwriter (All the President’s Men, The Princess Bride) and giddy movie enthusiast is hardly a “prevailing view” kind of guy.
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The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened
The dramatic, surprising, bittersweet story of one of the truly legendary musicals in the history of Broadway: Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” which opened to enormous fanfare in 1981, and closed after just sixteen performances.
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Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now
by Mark Steyn
The New Yorker: “A witty, anecdote-stuffed history of the past seventy years in musicals.”
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Broadway Idiot (Video)
From punk rock mosh pits and sold-out stadiums to the Great White Way, this electrifying documentary follows Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong as he works with Broadway veterans to turn his mega-hit album, American Idiot, into a Broadway musical. The film goes behind the scenes with Billie Joe and Michael Mayer as they create a thrilling musical experience. Broadway Idiot is a portrait of an artist having the guts to try something totally new. The film provides insider access to the creative process and reveals Billie’s personal transformation from rock star to Broadway star.
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Or download now from Amazon Instant Video: Further info or to order
Broadway’s Lost Treasures (DVD)
Broadway’s Lost Treasures delivers what the title promises: 21 historic performances of great moments in American musical theater televised on the Tony Awards between 1967 and 1986. (Five were not included when the program was broadcast on PBS in 2003.) Unlike some other arts, theater has rarely been well-documented, so it’s a treat to see these numbers performed by the original artists rather than experience them through audio recordings or tepid movie adaptations.
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Broadway: The American Musical
by Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon
Those critics and theatergoers who have for some time lamented the death of the Broadway musical can take heart: thanks to this glorious paean, the hills are once again alive with the sound of music — and much more. Though this nostalgia-laden tome is designed as a companion book to the PBS series, it stands on its own as a particularly striking and comprehensive take on a uniquely American art form. The copious illustrations alone are worth “the price of admission,” as history unfolds through archival and contemporary photos (Fred and Adele Astaire in 1924; Tommy Tune swooning over Twiggy in 1983’s “My One and Only”); sheet music covers (the Prohibition-era ditty “How Are You Going to Wet Your Whistle When the Whole Darn World Goes Dry?”); and vibrant photographic spreads (Paul Robeson in a 1928 production of “Showboat”; Patty Lupone in “Evita”). With its beguiling blend of entertainment and history, this splendid work is a must-have, whether you’re a musical-comedy devotee (i.e., you know that Barbara Cook’s Broadway debut was in 1951’s “Flahooley”) or a neophyte (you’re not sure who Barbara Cook is).
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Or buy the DVD set: Further info or to order
Comedy-Tragedy Earrings (Sterling Silver)
A great gift for yourself or a loved one. Makes the perfect addition to any jewelry collection.
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The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre
by Peter Found (Editor), Phyllis Hartnoll
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Conversations With Wilder
by Billy Wilder, Cameron Crowe
The Los Angeles Times Book Review: … Crowe’s book is a pleasure …. He was drawn to Wilder out of admiration and the idea of doing an extended interview book, such as Francois Truffaut did with Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s. He’s well-equipped: He does comedy himself; he is a writer-director; and he has a real tenderness for the older man, enough to handle those moments when Wilder is brusque, forgetful or pretty rough.
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The Crafty Art of Playmaking
by Alan Ayckbourn
For the first time, Alan Ayckbourn shares all of his tricks of the playwright’s trade. From helpful hints on writing to tips on directing, the book provides a complete primer for the newcomer and a refresher for the more experienced. Written in Ayckbourn’s signature style that combines humor, seriousness, and heady air of theatrical sophistication that Noel Coward would envy, The Crafty Art of Playmaking is a must-have for aspiring playwrights and students of drama.
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Dear Writer, Dear Actress: The Love Letters of Olga Knipper and Anton Chekhov
by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Olga Knipper, Jean Benedetti
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Diaries of Kenneth Tynan
by Kenneth Tynan, John Lahr (Introduction)
These entries, consistently fascinating, also manage to be witty (frequently of the laugh-out-loud variety), thought-provoking (few sacred cows escape Tynan’s dead-on skewering) or raunchy (not a few sections should carry an “R” rating). Not surprisingly, Tynan dissects theatrical foibles and politicking with a keen inside perspective; he can also discourse on the European common market, Spaniards’ attitudes toward homosexuality, cricket, French cuisine, Ethel Merman and much more.
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Director’s Voice 2: Interviews With Twenty Stage Directors
by Jason Loewith (Editor)
The Director’s Voice 2 presents a cross-section of the most diverse and dynamic stage directors defining today’s American theater in a conversation with director/producer Jason Loewith. In the twenty years since the debut of the immensely popular first volume of The Director’s Voice, which has sold over eighteen thousand copies, much has changed. “The nonprofit model was turned on its head in the aftermath of the Reagan years,” Loewith notes. “Institution-building is out for these directors; creating a distinctive voice from a multiplicity of influences is in.” Taken together, these directors sketch a compelling portrait of the art form in the new century.
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Disney on Broadway
by Michael Lassell (Editor)
Go “behind-the-curtain” for an insider’s view of Disney’s mega-hit Broadway shows Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Aida are showcased in a lavish volume of dazzling costumes and set design, creator commentary, and simply spectacular production photography in Disney on Broadway. Discover the secrets behind the special effects of Beauty and the Beast, which are revealed in vivid detail. Witness how director Julie Taymor and her co-designers developed the mechanics of The Lion King with its stylized imagery and distinctive puppetry. And follow the long and sometimes bumpy road from the concept of Aida to the glamorous realization of this innovative musical, through rounds of revisions to its grand opening in New York’s famed Palace Theatre.
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Downton Abbey Seasons 1, 2 & 3 (Deluxe Limited Edition DVDs)
Including 52 minutes of exclusive footage not available anywhere else, the new Downton Abbey: Seasons 1, 2 & 3 Deluxe Limited Edition (Amazon Exclusive) contains never-before-seen deleted scenes from Seasons 1-3, all-new cast interviews, and 11 minutes of clips and interviews from Season 4!
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Django Unchained
by Quentin Tarantino (Author), RM Guera (Illustrator), Jason Latour (Illustrator)
Not the screenplay, but the graphic novel based on the screenplay, and containing many scenes cut from the film.
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Or buy the DVD: Further info or to order
Or download now from Amazon Instant Video: Further info or to order
The Drama 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Plays of All Time (The Literature 100)
by Daniel S. Burt
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Drama High: The Incredible True Story of a Brilliant Teacher, a Struggling Town, and the Magic of Theater Hardcover
by Michael Sokolove
Journalist Sokolove pays tribute to drama teacher Lou Volpe, who in the last 40 years has revolutionized the theater program at Harry S. Truman High School. Located in Levittown, Pennsylvania, a blue-collar town that has been on a slow economic downswing since the 1960s, Truman has become known for its drama program, thanks to Volpe, whose productions draw not only critical acclaim but also the attention of famous theater producers.
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Dreams on Spec (Amazon Instant Video)
Dreams on Spec takes an intimate look at how far people will go – and how much they will sacrifice – to pursue their dreams. This feature-length documentary follows three screenwriters as they struggle against overwhelming odds – and often their families’ disapproval – to turn their scripts into movies. David is a hip talent agent’s assistant with three scripts circulating around town. He’s plugged into “Young Hollywood” – and when he’s not working or writing, he’s usually hanging out at the beach. Joe is a middle-aged family man who has split time over the last three years between caring for his autistic daughter and writing what he believes could be the Great American Screenplay. And Deborah is trying to become one of the few African-American women to ever write and direct a feature film, though she’s struggling just to pay her bills while she searches for money to produce her script. These poignant portraits are intercut with wisdom from a “Greek Chorus” of superstar screenwriters like James L. Brooks, Nora Ephron, Gary Ross, Carrie Fisher, Ed Solomon, Larry Karaszewski, Scott Alexander, Paul Guay, and Dennis Palumbo to forge a funny and compelling look at inspiration, creativity, and solitude in Hollywood.
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Eat-Sleep-Theatre Black T-shirt
Wear your theatre geekness!
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Elaine Stritch: At Liberty [Cast Recording]
Elaine Stritch is a legend and she knows it. And so she came up with a whole one-woman show about the best topic she could think of: her life in the theater. And what a trip it’s been. From Ethel Merman to Noel Coward, Stritch has worked with some of the greatest names to grace the American stage, and she has anecdotes about all of them (most are included on this recording). In this show, she hits all the marks with the acuity of a seasoned pro who’s seen it all and whose love for the theater remains undiluted.
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Or buy the DVD: Further info or to order
Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim
by Geoffrey Holden Block
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The Encyclopedia of the Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies
by R. G. Young
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Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical “Follies”
by Ted Chapin
In 1971, college student Ted Chapin was in the right place at the right time. As a production assistant, or gofer, he found himself front row center at the creation of one of the greatest of all Broadway musicals: Follies. And since (as part of a college assignment) he kept a journal of everything he saw and heard, he was able to document– in unprecedented detail — how a musical is actually made.
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Buy the DVD of “Stephen Sondheim’s Follies in Concert”: Further info or to order
Or download now from Amazon Instant Video: Further info or to order
Final Draft 11
Final Draft, the word processor specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics, and stage plays, combines powerful word processing with professional script formatting in one self-contained, easy-to-use package. There is no need to learn about script formatting rules — Final Draft automatically paginates and formats your script to industry standards as you write. Use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style.
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Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes
by Stephen Sondheim
Along with the lyrics for all of his musicals from 1954 to 1981 — including “West Side Story,” “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music” and “Sweeney Todd” — Sondheim treats us to never-before-published songs from each show, songs that were cut or discarded before seeing the light of day. He discusses his relationship with his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, and his collaborations with extraordinary talents such as Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Ethel Merman, Richard Rodgers, Angela Lansbury, Harold Prince and a panoply of others. Best of all, Sondheim appraises his work and dissects his lyrics, as well as those of others, offering unparalleled insights into songwriting that will be studied by fans and aspiring songwriters for years to come. Accompanying Sondheim’s sparkling writing are behind-the-scenes photographs from each production, along with handwritten music and lyrics from the songwriter’s personal collection. “There is so much to be learned and appreciated from ‘Finishing the Hat.’ It’s filled with fascinating, entertaining, unique and compelling lessons from a man who encompasses the essence of what is truly great about American Musical Theatre.” –Michael Feinstein
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See also “Look, I Made a Hat”
Or browse Amazon’s selection of Sondheim CDs and DVDs
The First 28 Years of Monty Python
by Kim Howard Johnson
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Alison Bechdel (Author)
This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel’s sweetly gothic drawings. Like Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, it’s a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form.
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Fun Home (A New Broadway Musical)
by Jeanine Tesori (Artist), Lisa Kron (Artist), Michael Cerveris (Artist), Judy Kuhn (Artist), & 1 more Format: Audio CD
Original cast recording. Following a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at The Public Theater, the groundbreaking new musical Fun Home comes to Broadway. It was named Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, and received the OBIE, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Off Broadway Alliance Awards in the 2013-2014 season.
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Ghost Light: A Memoir
by Frank Rich
Amazon.com: When Frank Rich was an anxious, unhappy kid marooned in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., the fact his parents were divorced was discussed “only in the whisper that Grandma Ross used whentalking about being Jewish or having cancer.” Like so many others who feel painfully different, Frank found refuge in the theater, particularly the classic musicals of Broadway’s golden age. After an enchanted trip to see Bells Are Ringing in 1956 when he was 7, Rich writes, “I was now destined to trace my childhood almost exclusively through an accelerating progression of plays, good and bad, that would captivate and kidnap me.” What interests him most here is the theater’s power to shape lives.
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Going to the Movies: A Personal Journey Through Four Decades of Modern Film
by Syd Field
Watching a movie is easy. But it’s hard to figure out how its structure, images, acting, camera work and scripts can make us respond so powerfully. Writing in a chatty, informal manner, the author of several popular screenplay-writing manuals (including Screenplay, which is used in numerous college courses) turns to autobiography to meditate on what makes a movie great. Whether he is addressing his friendship with the great French director Jean Renoir, whose masterpiece La Grande Illusion Field considers one of the foundations of modern cinema, or about his classes with the great feminist film director Dorothy Arzner, Field conveys an enormous amount of technical and practical knowledge.
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Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2CD)
“Hamilton” is the acclaimed new musical about the scrappy young immigrant Alexander Hamilton, the $10 Founding Father who forever changed America with his revolutionary ideas and actions.
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The Hamilton Mixtape
An unprecedented musical companion to the landmark Broadway musical by Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda. Executive produced by The Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter, The Hamilton Mixtape sees songs from the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical covered and remixed by a remarkable cast of contemporary artists. Superstars contributing to the one of its kind collection include Sia, Usher, Kelly Clarkson, The Roots, Alicia Keys, Nas, Wiz Khalifa, Chance The Rapper, John Legend, Regina Spektor, Ashanti, Ja Rule, Miguel, Queen Latifah, Common, Ben Folds, Andra Day, Jill Scott, Jimmy Fallon & more. The Hamilton Mixtape also includes three previously unreleased Hamilton demos.
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Hamilton: The Revolution
by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Author), Jeremy McCarter
HAMILTON: THE REVOLUTION gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages–“since before this was even a show,” according to Miranda–traces its development from an improbable performance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later.
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two: The Official Playscript
by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son, Albus, must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: Sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. “Fans can breathe easy knowing this play has been respectfully and lovingly wrought. Tensions thrum, spells fly but at center stage, as always in the Potterverse, is the overriding importance of love and friendship, especially in the face of danger.” — Booklist “Whether encountered on stage or on the page, this trip back into the magical world of Hogwarts is thrilling.” — Telegraph
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How Good is David Mamet, Anyway?: Writings on Theater — and Why It Matters
by John Heilpern
Salon: [Heilpern’s]clear thinking, deceptively breezy prose and infectious, generous wit are consistently delightful…Heilpern’s best writing offers many of the strange, almost religious delights of an evening at the theater…American playwrights and audiences owe Heilpern a great debt.
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How to Live a Sitcom Life
by Mark Bennett
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I Randomly Break Into Show Tunes Musical Theatre T-Shirt
The perfect gift for actors, actresses, thespian, theatre nerd, singer, showman, performer, theatre kid whose head and brain is full of memorized song lyrics.
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Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol
by Tom Mula
Based on a one-man show written and performed by author Tom Mula, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol offers a unique and entertaining new twist on the familiar holiday tale. Readers follow Marley as he works behind the scenes to save Scrooge’s soul. Funny, irreverent, and moving, this beautifully illustrated gift book promises to become a holiday favorite.
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Joy Ride: Show People and Their Shows
by John Lahr
Joy Ride throws open the stage door and introduces readers to such makers of contemporary drama as Arthur Miller, Tony Kushner, Wallace Shawn, Harold Pinter, David Rabe, David Mamet, Mike Nichols, and August Wilson. Lahr takes us to the cabin in the woods that Arthur Miller built in order to write Death of a Salesman; we walk with August Wilson through the Pittsburgh ghetto where we encounter the inspiration for his great cycle; we sit with Ingmar Bergman at the Kunglinga Theatre in Stockholm, where he attended his first play; we visit with Harold Pinter at his London home and learn the source of the feisty David Mamet’s legendary ear for dialogue. In its juxtaposition of biographical detail and critical analysis, Joy Ride explores with insight and panache not only the lives of the theatricals but the liveliness of the stage worlds they have created. “Lahr creates a book worthy of its title: It is a living celebration of theater itself.” — Caryn James, New York Times Book Review
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Kenneth Tynan: Letters
by Kenneth Tynan, Kathleen Tynan
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Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live
by Tom Shales, James Andrew Miller
This oral history of NBC’s Saturday Night Live is the juiciest treasure trove of backstage gossip, sex and drugs since The Andy Warhol Diaries. With almost three decades’ worth of memories from cast members, celebrity hosts, writers, crew and network execs, readers get first-hand reports (often contradictory) on the volatile, competitive, grueling and often drug-fueled process of creating a weekly, 90-minute, live comedy show.
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Or browse Amazon’s selection of Saturday Night Live DVDs
Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany
by Stephen Sondheim
Picking up where he left off in “Finishing the Hat,” Stephen Sondheim gives us all the lyrics, along with excluded songs and early drafts, of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Into the Woods,” “Assassins” and “Passion.” Here, too, is an in-depth look at the evolution of “Wise Guys,” which subsequently was transformed into “Bounce” and eventually became “Road Show.” As he did in the previous volume, Sondheim richly annotates his lyrics with invaluable advice on songwriting, discussions of theater history and the state of the industry today, and exacting dissections of his work, both the successes and the failures. Filled with even more behind-the-scenes photographs and illustrations from Sondheim’s original manuscripts, “Look, I Made a Hat” is fascinating, devourable and essential reading for any fan of the theater or this great man’s work.”
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See also “Finishing the Hat”
Or browse Amazon’s selection of Sondheim CDs and DVDs
Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theatre
by Tom Jones
By the librettist and lyricist of “The Fantasticks”
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Masterpiece Theatre: A Celebration of 25 Years of Outstanding Television
by Terrence O’Flaherty, Karen Sharpe (Editors)
In the quarter-century that it has been broadcast in America, Masterpiece Theatre has raised its audience’s awareness of TV’s true potential as a stage for serious dramatic arts. The book includes interviews with artists and directors, covering a wide range of topics, including the challenges of adapting a work of classic literature to a contemporary teleplay. 150 photos, 75 in color.
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Or browse Amazon’s selection of Masterpiece Theatre DVDs
Moon Over Broadway (DVD)
In 1995, Carol Burnett returned to Broadway after an absence of three decades to costar in Ken Ludwig’s comedy, Moon Over Buffalo. Legendary documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker and his wife, Chris Hegedus, enjoyed extraordinary access to capture the nuts and bolts of mounting a Broadway play in this video equivalent of a backstage pass. It is more entertaining than the strained farce we glimpse onstage. The play’s director, Tom Moore, certainly has his hands full. Ludwig (who hit it big with the play Lend Me a Tenor) bemoans what the actors are doing to his words. “It’s like a pact with the devil, having to cast stars,” he complains. He must massage the actors’ egos (the play’s ingenue dislikes the picture of herself displayed outside the theater) and assuage their insecurities. Observe how he deftly and delicately reins in Burnett, who initially falls back on shtick to get a laugh. In one tense moment, Philip Bosco, Burnett’s esteemed costar, becomes flustered when he believes his input is not appreciated. “Don’t you want the benefit of our years of experience, of our sense of comedy?” he demands of Moore. Moon Over Broadway is just the ticket for theater buffs.
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The Motherf***er with the Hat (Audio version)
Starring Chris Rock. Addiction, pain, and explosive tempers are not exactly what you’d call the ingredients for a side-splitting comedy. Yet Steven Adly Guiguis has created a profane, hilarious masterpiece that earned a “hatful” of theatrical accolades in 2011, including a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for Bobby Cannavale. Stars the original Broadway cast: Chris Rock, Bobby Canavale, Annabella Sciorra, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Yul Vazquez.
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Or read the script: Further info or to order
Must You Go?: My Life With Harold Pinter
By Lady Antonia Fraser
A moving and exquisite testament to one of the literary world’s most celebrated marriages: that of the greatest playwright of our age, Harold Pinter, and the beautiful and famous prize-winning biographer Antonia Fraser. Based on Fraser’s recollections and the diaries she has kept since October 1968, “Must You Go?” is the story of a 30-year marriage, beginning with their initial meeting when Fraser was the wife of a member of Parliament and Pinter was married to a distinguished actress, and ending with Harold’s tragic death after battling illness for many years. Courageous, powerful, and extraordinarily compelling, “Must You Go?” is a love story and a marvelously insightful account of the pleasures of married love. “A stirring celebration of what Fraser, reflecting near the end of Pinter’s life, observed as a union ‘to the infinite degree happy beyond all possible expectations.'” –The New Yorker
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My Movie Business: A Memoir
by John Irving
Amazon.com: This slender memoir offers a perceptive, if hardly objective, critique of the inherent differences between novels and screenplays, with the writer sharing his own experiences creating both. Irving focuses principally on his crusade to bring The Cider House Rules to the screen, tracing its gestation through four successive directors; with Irving himself attached as scriptwriter, we see the novelist struggling to reconcile the demands of concision against his paternal instincts toward the
original book.
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New York Theatre Walks: Seven Historical Tours from Times Square to Greenwich Village and Beyond
by Howard Kissel
Howard Kissel provides a series of seven self-guided walking tours not just of the theatre district but of the East and West Village, the Lower East Side, and the Upper West Side – neighborhoods uptown and downtown that illuminate the theatre’s intimate relationship with the city. The book abounds in Broadway anecdotes, but it also gives the walker a sense of the city’s own complex, rich history. All Around the Town, New York Theatre Walks provides enjoyment and instruction not just for visitors eager to get off the beaten path but for the native who wants to find the theatrical past lying behind the sights one passes on a regular basis.
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Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops
by Ken Mandelbaum
From such legendary catastrophes as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “Carrie” to the failures of Alan Jay Lerner and Rodgers and Hammerstein, this hilarious account of some “lost” theatre history provides stories of nearly 200 musical flops that played from 1950 to 1991. Framed by the 1988 megaflop Carrie , which theater buffs still speak of in hushed tones, the shows are presented thematically rather than chronologically, thus better underscoring the reasons for failure. “As befits the subject, ‘Not Since Carrie’ is full of entertaining backstage reportage . . . The illustrations are also fun and wittily chosen, whether embarrassing production photos or sadly hopeful posters and advertising.” – Frank Rich, The New York Times/WQXR.
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Original Cast Album — Company (A Documentary)
While a proposed series of original cast recording sessions for documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (Don’t Look Back) never materialized, Original Cast Album: Company survives as the first and only entry, and it was fortuitous that its subject was the 1970 musical Company. Groundbreaking in its use of a series of vignettes rather than a conventional plot, it was also one of the earliest major works for composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the most important figure in musical theater over the last quarter-century.
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Buy the script of “Company”: Further info or to order
Or buy the Original 1970 Broadway Cast Recording: Further info or to order
Or buy the DVD of the 2007 revival: Further info or to order
Or watch the 2007 revival now via Amazon Instant Video: Further info or to order
The Oxford Companion to the Theatre
by Phyllis Hartnoll (Editor) 4th Edition
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Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards
Discover the illustrations that inspired the historic, Oscar-winning film’s every shot in this graphic novel drawn by Director Bong Joon Ho himself. As part of his unique creative process, director Bong Joon Ho storyboarded each shot of Parasite prior to the filming of every scene. Accompanied by the film’s dialogue, the storyboards he drew capture the story in its entirety and inspired the composition of the film’s every frame and scene. Director Bong has also written a foreword and provided early concept drawings and photos from the set, which take the reader even deeper into the vision that gave rise to this stunning cinematic achievement.
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Peter and the Starcatcher: The Annotated Script of the Broadway Play
by Rick Elice
The hilarious script for the Broadway play is presented along with commentary by the playwright, the directors, the composer, the set designer, and authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Filled with behind-the-scenes information and photos of the cast and crew, this annotated script will enchant and entertain fans of the book and the play alike.
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Pixar Storytelling: Rules for Effective Storytelling Based on Pixar’s Greatest Films
by Dean Movshovitz
Pixar Storytelling is about effective storytelling rules based on Pixar’s greatest films. Learn what Pixar’s core story ideas all have in common, how they create compelling, moving conflict and what makes their films’ resolutions so emotionally satisfying.
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The Play Goes On: A Memoir
by Neil Simon
The follow-up to Simon’s bestselling memoir, “Rewrites.”
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See also “Rewrites”
Playwrights at Work: The Paris Review
by George Plimpton (Editor)
The most famous feature of George Plimpton’s Paris Review is the interview with an author that graces nearly every issue. The latest collection of these colloquies showcases 16 dramatists’ remarks about their art and their practice of it. In the opening interview, Thornton Wilder makes an observation that resonates in his successors’ comments: “On the stage it is always now.” A play is written out of the belief that what happens is more interesting than describing or analyzing what happens. For Samuel Beckett, of course, it was what failed to happen that was interesting, as he attests not directly — he declined to be interviewed — but through Lawrence Shainberg’s superb memoir of him at work. Besides the Beckett piece, the Eugene Ionesco interview is the most intellectually intriguing. Arthur Miller proves the most concerned with historic dramatic form, Neil Simon the most absorbed in stagecraft (save for Beckett), and Tennessee Williams the most gossipy. Some other subjects in this treasure trove for theater lovers are Edward Albee, John Guare, David Mamet, August Wilson, and Wendy Wasserstein.
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Profiles
by Kenneth Tynan
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Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles: A Radio Dramatization Audible Audiobook
Ray Bradbury (Author), The Colonial Radio Players
The people of Earth are preparing for war — a war that could potentially destroy the planet. Explorers are sent to Mars to find a new place for humans to colonize. Bradbury’s Mars is a place of hope, dreams, and metaphor — of crystal pillars and fossil seas — where a fine dust settles on the great empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn — first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars … and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race. The Martian Chronicles is presented here as a full-cast audio production with an original music score and thousands of sound effects by the award winning Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air. It marks their fourth collaboration with one of the most celebrated fiction writers of our time: Ray Bradbury.
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Reading Chekhov
by Janet Malcolm
Longtime New Yorker magazine writer Malcolm is known for her fearlessly opinionated takes on controversial subjects, from psychoanalysis to murder cases. This short meditation in 13 untitled chapters is a reflection on her reading of a favorite author, famed 19th-century playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov, in the context of a recent tourist trip she took through contemporary Russia.
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Rewrites: A Memoir
by Neil Simon
Amazon.com Expert Editor’s Recommended Book: Broadway’s perennial hitmaster Neil Simon, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers, follows the funny/poignant style of his recent autobiographical plays. This memoir takes him from childhood into his years as a comedy writer for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” through his early Odd Couple-era stage hits and up to the death of his first wife in 1973. Not a traditional autobiography, Rewrites is a story rich with laughter and emotion, and filled with memories of a sweet — sometimes bittersweet — story.
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See also “The Play Goes On: A Memoir”
Rough Magic
by Mike Daisey
This is the first volume of work by Mike Daisey, a solo performer who has distilled his own particular blend of monologue, delivering hilarious and heartbreaking pieces that connect the fearlessly autobiographical with the historical and political. Includes “The Last Cargo Cult,” about his journey to a remote South Pacific island where people worship America and its cargo; “Monopoly!,” in which he weaves together the secret history of the board game with the conflict between Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart; “How Theater Failed America,” his controversial backstage tour of the state of the American theater; and “If You See Something Say Something,” in which he divulges the surprising history of the Department of Homeland Security. “Gripping and vital . . . Mike Daisey has proven himself that rare theatrical creature: An entertaining performer with something valuable to say.” –Variety
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Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need
by Blake Snyder
This ultimate insider’s guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who’s proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat!
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“Save the Cat Story Structure Software”: Further info or to order
Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into … and Out of
by Blake Snyder
Blake Snyder, author of “Save the Cat!” and “Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies,” is back with the book countless readers and students have clamored for. Inspired by questions from his workshops, lectures, and emails, Blake listened and provides new tips, tactics, and techniques to solve your writing problems and create stories that resonate. “‘Save the Cat! Strikes Back’ is Blake’s best yet. It expands on his principles of storytelling in a breezy, colloquial style and gives us a deeper personal insight to the relentlessly positive mindset that powered his great success and his generous spirit. Blake’s life was far, far too short, but his work and his inspiring legacy will remain timeless.” –Rick Drew, movieScope Magazine
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Screenwriting four Geniuses
by William D. Wolff
“Screenwriting four Geniuses” is a parody of self-help books, purporting to teach its readers how to make millions of dollars, effortlessly writing blockbuster screenplays for Hollywood. The title is a humorous take-off of the “for Dummies” series. But more than being merely a collection of jokes and gags, “Screenwriting four Geniuses” is a barbed, satirical and highly literate commentary on the greed- and fear-based mentality prevalent in the world of Hollywood filmmaking.
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Screenwriters: America’s Storytellers in Portrait
by Helena Lumme, Mika Manninen
Even if you don’t agree with the editors that screenwriting is the toughest and riskiest profession in the movie business, this lovely book holds tremendous appeal. Screenwriters offers unique visual and verbal portraits of each of the 47 writers covered. The striking photographs presented here were exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The book also offers brief comments from the screenwriters on the art of writing, particularly for the silver screen.
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Shepard and Dark (Amazon Instant Video)
Shepard & Dark is a documentary portrait of the unlikely decades-long friendship between actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard and reclusive oddball Johnny Dark, through a correspondence of handwritten letters dating back to the 1960s.
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Shrek the Musical (Video)
The trend of turning movies into musicals has left us with some theatrical catastrophes, but the big surprise is that Shrek the Musical isn’t one of them. In fact, it’s pretty entertaining, or at least this filmed version of the original Broadway production is. The script sticks close to the source material: against his will, a foul-tempered ogre named Shrek goes on a quest to rescue a princess–but the princess turns out to have a secret that changes the fairy-tale ending into, well, a different fairy-tale ending. Shrek’s sidekick Donkey (played here by Daniel Breaker, doing an imitation of Eddie Murphy that succeeds through sheer exuberance) frolics with zest. The supporting cast of fairy-tale characters (ranging from Pinocchio to the Three Bears to the Gingerbread Man) have slightly expanded roles (and songs to sing). Lord Farquaad (Christopher Sieber) minces and camps enthusiastically. But the real standout is Sutton Foster (star of the ballet sitcom Bunheads) as Princess Fiona. When she’s on the stage, you forget all about the original movie
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Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History
by Glen Berger
“An absorbing account of one of show biz’s more bizarre real-life adventures.” (USA Today)
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The Stephen Sondheim Collection DVD (Into the Woods / Sunday in the Park with George / Follies in Concert / Passion / Sweeney Todd in Concert / A Celebration at Carnegie Hall)
Celebrate the brilliance of Stephen Sondheim, one of musical theater’s most acclaimed and popular talents, with this special six-disc collection. Includes A Celebration at Carnegie Hall: This star-studded salute to Sondheim’s most enduring melodies features Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Liza Minnelli, Madeleine Kahn, Victor Garber, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and many more!
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Or browse Amazon’s selection of Sondheim CDs and DVDs
Stop the Show! A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater
by Brad Schreiber
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The Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Actor’s Reference to Over 1,000 Scenes and Monologues from More than 300 contemporary Plays
by Ed Hooks
An invaluable guide to finding just the right piece for every audition. The unique format of the book is ideal for acting teachers who want their students to understand each monologue in context. This remarkable book describes the characters, action, and mood for more than 1,000 scenes in over 300 plays. Using these guidelines, the actor can quickly pinpoint the perfect monologue, then find the text in the Samuel French or Dramatist Play Service edition of the play. Newly revised and expanded, the book includes the author’s own assessment of each monologue.
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Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade
by William Goldman
Amazon.com: Fans of the two-time Oscar-winning writer (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men) have anxiously waited for this follow-up since his career serpentined into a variety of big hits and critical bombs in the ’80s and ’90s. Here Goldman scoops on The Princess Bride (his own favorite), Misery, Maverick, Absolute Power, and others. Goldman’s conversational style makes him easy to read for the film novice but meaty enough for the detail-oriented pro. Like most sequels, Which Lie follows the structure of the original. Both Goldman books have three parts: stories about his movies, a deconstruction of Hollywood (here the focus is on great movie scenes), and a workshop for screenwriters. With its juicy facts and valuable sidebars on what makes good screenwriting, this is another entertaining must-read from the man who coined what has to be the most-quoted adage about movie-business success: “Nobody knows anything.”
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Why We Write: Personal Statements and Photographic Portraits of 25 Top Screenwriters
by Lorian Tamara Elbert (Editor)
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William Shakespeare Twelth Night Theatre Unisex Analog Water Resistant Novelty Gift Watch
from The Unemployed Philosophers’ Guild
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The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
by Christopher Vogler
Many screenwriters have used Vogler’s volume to understand why certain scenarios sell, and to discover a blueprint for creating mythic stories of their own. Now in its second edition, The Writer’s Journey sets forth archetypes common in what Vogler calls “the hero’s journey,” the mythic structure that he claims all stories follow. In the book’s first section, he lists the different kinds of typological characters who appear in stories. In the second, he discusses the stages of the journey through which the hero generally passes. The final, supplementary portion of the book explains in detail how films like Titanic and The Full Monty follow the patterns he has outlined. — Raphael Shargel
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The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre (Vol. 1): Europe
by Don Rubin (Editor)
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The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre (Vol. 2): Americas
by Don Rubin (Editor)
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Young Playwrights 101: A Practical Guide for Young Playwrights and Those Who Teach Them
by Jonathan Dorf
A complete handbook for young playwrights and those who teach them, and for anyone who wants practical advice about the craft and business of playwriting.
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